Do not be misled by replacement window salesmen in Canada. Do not be mislead by Natural Resources Canada and the ecoENERGY Residential Retrofit program.
Replacement window salemen will say that ENERGY STAR replacement windows are eligible for ecoENERGY Residential Retrofit grant of $30 (plus an additional $30 from most Provincial governments).
And they would be right. On one of the main pages on the ecoENERGY program’s website you will see the following:
“Replace windows and skylights with models that are ENERGY STAR® qualified for your climate zone.”
True enough. What is a ‘window’?
There are 9 ‘Important Notes’ (footnotes to you and I) on this page, none of which defines for you the term ’window’.
How many windows do you see here?
Not 3; not even 2; one. We had to pay for 3 windows, the large upper window and the two sliders in the lower area. However, per the ecoENERGY Residential Retrofit program, this is one window seeing us receive $30 from Natural Resources Canada.
How about here; how many windows do you see?
We paid for six ENERGY STAR windows; the two large uppers and the 2 pairs of horizontal slider windows.
According to the ecoENERGY program, the above picture is considered one window. One. Even though this entire area is 5 feet high and 6 feet wide, these 2 ENERGY STAR windows will see us receive a whole $30 from Natural Resources Canada and a matching $30 grant from our Provincial government. This is supposed to be motivation to pay the premium pricing of an ENERGY STAR rated window?
Surely, this bay window counts as more than 1 window within the ecoENERGY grant program, right? Wrong.
The Federal Government of Canada is incenting me, and other Canadian home owners with homes built prior to 2000 a whopping $30 to replace the windows in this bay window with ENERGY STAR rated windows.
Does that seem like a sufficient financial motivation?
I have to be honest; had I known this I would not have invested several thousands of dollars in ENERGY STAR replacement windows. Would you have?
Where is the term ‘window’ defined on the ecoENERGY web site or all the literature which it provides the energy auditors to leave with participating households?
Not on the home page.
Not on the page referenced above.
The term ‘window’ is defined as question #49 of the 50 questions on the Question and Answer page.
If you are looking for me to recommend the ecoENERGY Residential Retrofit program, I do. If you are looking for me to recommend investing the thousands and thousands of dollars in ENERGY STAR windows, I’m not so sure; it’s definitely not for the $30 + $30.
1 response so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Mar 31, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Often I have found that reimbursement programs don’t always work out the way they should. I was lucky enough to use the reimbursement program to get insulation in my attic. It had fairly cut and dry specs. I would suggest that any day over windows.
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